The right way to Create an E book: Ideas, Methods, and Free Instruments

By Kaleigh Moore October 26, 2023

Ebooks have been round for the reason that daybreak of the digital age. 

However that doesn’t make them a relic of the previous.

If something, ebooks are getting hotter. Since 2011, e book readers have risen to their highest levels: 30% report studying one prior to now 12 months. And that’s increased than the speed of audiobook listeners (23%).

The biggest class of readers? Those that learn each bodily and digital books.

And why not? Ebooks are handy; you may learn them wherever. You’ll be able to simply distribute them for all types of causes, together with:

• Direct gross sales (providing an e book for a reduced value in comparison with a tough copy guide)
• Lead magnets (utilizing an e book as a free reward for signing up for a publication)
• Establishing thought management
• Fulfilling your dream of turning into an writer

However no matter your motive for creating an e book, you gained’t get off the bottom till you already know every thing there may be to find out about ebooks. Particularly if you understand how to create an e book free of charge.

The excellent news: you don’t must be an skilled author.

You simply want a step-by-step components for brainstorming, drafting, and modifying your e book till you’ve polished it to a advantageous sheen.

On this submit, let’s deal with every thing from the summary (how do you provide you with matters?) to the nuts and bolts of constructing an e book that appears nice on any fashionable gadget. Right here’s what you’ll must find out about tips on how to create an e book.

Writing the e book: concepts, brainstorming, and drafting

All of it begins with an concept.

In Eric R. Asher’s case, he was a gifted suspense and concrete fantasy writer. He’d even discovered illustration with a literary agent.

However Asher had one downside. His most up-to-date work was, in accordance with his agent, “unpublishable.”

Nowadays, the phrase “unpublishable” has by no means been so subjective. Asher knew that. So Asher turned to Amazon and the world of self-publishing.

Utilizing electronic mail advertising with AWeber, Asher created an electronic mail listing, providing a free guide obtain for brand spanking new subscribers.

Subsequent emails (despatched routinely by means of AWeber) additional introduce his readers to his different works.

It labored so properly, Asher began operating all types of his guide promotions by means of AWeber.

The important thing all comes again to the concept behind it. Asher had a pre-vetted match between his established viewers and the contents of his newest e book.

And not using a related match, you may’t ensure that your e book will resonate with your viewers. So earlier than you place the pen to the pad—or, on this case, the keyboard to the desk—you want a great match between what your viewers desires to listen to and what you’re saying.

Producing concepts on your e book

The first step: discover your area of interest

Your area of interest is the particular matter or viewers you need to work with. For Asher, it was a literary area of interest: suspenseful city fantasy. 

That’s a distinct segment with particular enchantment to a neighborhood of readers. If Asher had offered his guide as generically “thrilling,” there’d be no telling who the supposed viewers was. 

However in the event you don’t have a longtime viewers, you’ll want some methods to establish your finest area of interest.

Right here are some things to bear in mind as you choose the fitting e book viewers you need to work with:

• Keep away from a generalized viewers. “Health,” for instance, is extra of a market than a area of interest. It’s important to discover your particular enchantment inside the health world to face out. For AWeber buyer Alycia from Zumba with Alycia, which means particular notes on making probably the most out of Zumba lessons.
• Particular, however not obscure. What if Alycia had niched her viewers down even additional? “Zumba for girls aged 25-34, who earn between $50,000 and $100,000 per yr, and stay within the northeast” could be particular—however unnecessarily so. In case you begin shooing away potential e book readers, you could be getting too obscure.
• Discover the issue you need to clear up. Take the instance of Paula Rizzo. She was struggling to search out gadgets to fill her condominium, so she determined to get proactive in organizing her priorities. The outcome was Listful Thinking, a useful guide for individuals who have an excessive amount of on their plate.

Step two: brainstorm niche-relevant concepts

Brainstorming may be greater than sitting in a chair and considering. Ideally, it is going to be way over that.

There are actually AI and search engine optimisation instruments to hurry your brainstorming classes alongside, together with:

• ChatGPT: you fill in a easy immediate and ask for concepts, and it spits a listing proper again at you. Even in the event you dismiss many of the concepts, there’s an opportunity one or two will mild a spark.
• Ahrefs: Use key phrase and search engine optimisation instruments like Ahrefs to establish the highest traits in your area of interest, providing you with concepts for ebooks your viewers is already trying to find.

Don’t rely on AI or search engine optimisation instruments. However do put them to work. They’ll make it easier to flip obscure hunches about what sort of matter may work finest for you…and switch them into definitive concepts with construction.

What in the event you’re nonetheless struggling to provide you with concepts?

Begin with a giant idea: perhaps you need to assist individuals grasp their funds. You simply don’t have your e book’s explicit “hook” but.

You too can use methods like thoughts mapping to work from a giant matter, after which department off into smaller matters during which you might have some experience. 

Or you may run searches in your personal social media posts. On X (formally Twitter), go to search-advanced and take a look at your highest-performing tweets about your favourite topics. 

Now learn by means of the feedback. What are the frequent ache factors individuals are mentioning? Or which matters appear to resonate probably the most along with your social media viewers?

Observe these breadcrumbs. 

There’s probability an e book matter is ready on the finish of them.

Constructing the e book’s content material

As soon as you already know what your e book is about, it’s time to fill it with participating content material. 

The trick is arising with angles that individuals haven’t heard earlier than.

Your first step? Interview individuals. Search for particular tales and case research.

Possibly you already know individuals in your area of interest who can supply distinctive insights. However this isn’t a requirement. You too can run social media searches for matters in your area of interest and ask individuals in the event you can interview them.

Subsequent, assemble your analysis. 

Look by means of the present notes, articles, and books you’ve already drawn inspiration from. Begin bookmarking and highlighting one of the best factors. Save probably the most salient ones right into a bodily folder or a Google Doc.

That is much like the Ryan Holiday note-taking method.

Vacation, a prolific nonfiction writer, says he did analysis for 3 New York Instances bestsellers in his “spare time.”

One technique he makes use of is the “frequent place guide.” This can be a guide of quotes, sentences, tales, and different tidbits he can draw upon for materials.

He organizes these tidbits by themes and concepts. Each time he wants an instance or an perception, he returns to his “frequent place guide.”

Lastly, you may search for tales. 

In “Atomic Habits,” the bestselling guide by James Clear, he begins most chapters with a demonstrative instance of the precept he’s about to elucidate.

As an illustration, he opens the guide with an anecdote concerning the profitable habits of the British biking staff within the 2000s.

Don’t suppose you must be credible as an authority in your area of interest to get your concepts throughout.

Draw upon different sources because the demonstration of your key concepts. Manage your ideas by these key concepts, then let the storytelling strategy unveil and unwrap every concept with its personal distinctive taste.

Deciding what your e book will appear to be

When you’ve began analysis, you’ll begin to get a way of the fabric you’re working with.

Now it’s time to determine what kind that materials will take.

What’s going to your e book look like? 

• Will it have numerous visuals, together with charts, graphs, and footage? Or do you need to depend on textual content and storytelling?
• Will you design an e book based mostly on an e book template, or will you generate a template as you go?
• Or perhaps you don’t have any concept.

In case your reply was “C) I don’t know,” don’t fear. You’ll be able to draw upon some present templates to suit the e book’s construction to the analysis you’re assembling.

Useful resource compilations, for instance, may be enjoyable “listicle”-style ebooks. Possibly you’ll use a easy format like a novel instrument or tip for every web page. 

• Frequent titles could be “XYZ Finest Practices for Making Your First Sale” or “5 Ideas for a Newbie Weightlifting Routine.”

Story-rich ebooks, and even fiction, are easy sufficient. Your e book ought to emphasize primary readability for big swaths of textual content and dialogue.

• Some titles which may work? Symbolic phrases you pull from the guide can trace at a key occasion within the story. 

How-tos and tutorials ought to function simply accessible, step-by-step guides. These typically come filled with illustrations, which makes correct formatting the emphasis right here.

• Frequent titles embody “What You Have to Know About [Niche].” Or you may get inventive, as Mark Manson did together with his guide “The Refined Artwork of Not Giving a F***.”

Interviews and case research can embody a mixture of illustrations, graphics, and storytelling. Chances are you’ll even undertake a magazine-like strategy of together with visuals alongside the examples.

• You should use a symbolic phrase right here, or create one which summarizes your strategy. “Atomic Habits,” for instance, makes use of the “atomic” metaphor to trace at small-but-powerful modifications, because the guide explains.

Draft the e book with the format in thoughts

Does it sound like placing the cart earlier than the horse?

That’s okay. Drafting the e book with the format already in thoughts may prevent a number of pointless complications.

For instance, if you already know you’ll use a listicle model for a lead magnet e book, your analysis and drafting ought to replicate that.

It’s far much less environment friendly to draft your e book first, after which resolve its total form throughout modifying.

To make the drafting course of as easy as doable, stick to those primary steps.

Construct a top level view

Utilizing the analysis you’ve carried out, you must have arrived at just a few themes. Listed below are just a few potential methods to arrange them right into a agency plan:

• What concepts are sturdy sufficient to have their very own sections? Begin categorizing your analysis by these themes. These could possibly be particular person chapters, and even complete sections.
• After getting just a few of these, what order is sensible? In case you have a listicle-style e book in your arms, you could have to incorporate some suggestions earlier than others for context. Some suggestions might require constructing on others; present the foundational suggestions first.
• If all else fails, begin with probably the most compelling tales and case research. Possibly your e book is a unfastened assortment of insights. Begin with the insights you imagine will “wow” your readers probably the most.

Write!

An empty web page. A blinking cursor. 

There’s no extra avoiding it: it’s drafting time.

In case you’re studying tips on how to create an e book to promote to your viewers, you’re going to want unique content material. You’re going to want an e book definitely worth the value of admission.

However drafting doesn’t must be the scariest a part of the method. Listed below are just a few suggestions for getting the writing achieved as effectively and painlessly as doable:

• Work on the cloud. Failing that, frequently again up your progress. Google Docs, for instance, routinely saves for you. Different instruments, like Scrivener or Reedsy book editor, may be helpful to individuals who battle to remain organized.
• Work in milestones to remain motivated. In case your objective phrase rely is 25,000, ending a 1,000-word part gained’t be very motivating. Give your self weekly and even every day milestones to maintain up the sensation of regular progress.
• Don’t let perfectionism sluggish you down. As writer Jodi Picault mentioned: “you may’t edit a clean web page.” Even when one thing strikes you as “off,” merely make an observation to edit it later.

If that also proves overwhelming, you may at all times outsource the drafting.

However perhaps you don’t need to know tips on how to create an e book free of charge; you simply need to get it revealed.

Rent freelance writers on Upwork or Fiverr to finish some—and even all—of your e book. Or experiment with instruments like ChatGPT for drafting recommendations.

When completed, lean on instruments like Grammarly (AI edits and recommendations) or Hemingway (readability check). 

Nonetheless not glad along with your e book? You too can subcontract an editor to get an additional pair of eyes in your draft.

Publishing your e book: design, publishing, and advertising

You’ve bought the phrases down. Now you might have a robust useful resource able to distribute to the lots. Only one little hiccup:

Nobody’s going to learn it in the event that they by no means hear about it.

And even when your viewers hears about your e book, issues accessing the file can get in the way in which. 

Your e book must be simple to search out, simple to digest within the buyer’s most popular medium, and straightforward to learn as soon as downloaded.

Let’s ensure you’ve bought all of your bases lined.

The right way to get a fantastic e book cowl

Everyone knows we shouldn’t choose a guide by its cowl. But it’s exactly what readers do.

Your e book isn’t essentially a tangible guide your clients can maintain of their arms, however cowl will convey professionalism and worth. In case you’re promoting an e book—and even if you wish to use it as a lead magnet—your cowl ought to replicate the standard content material it comprises.

But you don’t must be an expert designer, both. Listed below are just a few methods you may get your e book’s cowl as much as snuff:

• Outsource it, utilizing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. If you wish to see a number of iterations, 99Designs permits you to submit a mission and evaluate designers’ entries first.
• Defer to AI. Join Midjourney, and AI may give you a number of iterations of e book covers for a month-to-month subscription charge. You too can select from 4 iterations to assist the AI zero in in your favourite ideas.
• Use templates. Canva’s online ebook maker options pre-existing templates. Experiment with fonts, colours, and illustration components to construct the e book cowl your self, free of charge.
• Use DIY E-book Covers, which incorporates ebook templates which can be really easy, you merely choose them and edit the textual content to insert your title.

Prepping the e book for publishing

Utilizing the instruments above, you may craft a stellar e book cowl with out being an expert designer.

However the within the guide can get a bit of difficult.

The within of the e book ought to look clear, skilled, and readable. And that’s not exhausting to realize lately.

What is exhausting to realize? An e book that appears equally lovely and readable it doesn’t matter what e-reader the client is utilizing.

Happily, you may defer to those publishing instruments to maintain the model constant:

• Calibre is an open-source e book publishing instrument. Use it to transform your Phrase and PDF recordsdata into ebook-ready codecs, like EPUB or MOBI. (Be aware: e-readers just like the Amazon Kindle work with .mobi recordsdata.)
• Sigil is an e book editor you should utilize to publish on to the EPUB format. As with Calibre, you may import textual content paperwork to transform to ebooks.
• Reedsy permits you to write inside the software program, then save on to PDF or EPUB. It additionally features a author and reader neighborhood for distributing your e book as soon as it’s prepared.

At this level, you’ll additionally want a Desk of Contents (TOC).

If utilizing one of many instruments above, you may create the TOC with hyperlinks instantly in a phrase processor like Phrase or Google Docs. 

To maintain it as simple as doable, use constant header kinds for chapter titles. For instance, in Google Docs, perhaps your chapter titles are “H2.” Then merely publish to the brand new format with these instruments, and so they’ll protect your hyperlinks.

TOCs are particularly helpful for readers with particular ache factors. In the event that they’re downloading your e book as a lead magnet, they may use the TOC to zoom proper to the part that addresses what they’re going by means of.

The right way to create an e book in Canva

Earlier on, we talked about Canva as a useful resource for constructing your e book cowl.

However it seems you are able to do it all in Canva.

Cowl pages, enticing colour schemes, choosing typography, including visible components—it’s all right here. There’s an entire section in Canva to steer you thru the steps concerned. 

Consider it as e book design for dummies. 

These templates are helpful as a result of Canva permits you to copy/paste your content material instantly. You too can select from a handful of pre-designed graphics to spruce up every chapter heading.

As you’re employed, Canva will routinely save your progress.

When you’ve found out tips on how to create an e book in Canva, obtain the file within the acceptable format, instantly from the platform. There’s nothing to pay to Canva until you utilize premium components options. However these are luxuries, not requirements.

Reviewing your e book and prepping for publishing

Obtain.

When you click on that button, you’ll be excited. You may be tempted to share your masterpiece with the world. 

So right here’s the toughest step: sleep on it.

Irrespective of how exhausting you edit, there are going to be errors. They usually’ll be tougher to repair after you publish it.

Ship your e book to some loyal readers, or household and buddies. See if they’ll spot any apparent errors. Solicit their suggestions, then make any last-minute modifications to the draft itself.

And when you’ve used instruments like Canva or Calibre to obtain your e book in a brand new format, give it a look. Studying it in a brand new format gives you a recent perspective.

Any apparent errors? Obtrusive errors? Extra context it’s worthwhile to throw in on the final minute?

Now’s your final probability.

Create an e book individuals will love

From selecting a distinct segment and concept technology to sprucing your final file to a advantageous, shimmering gleam, constructing your first e book will sound like coaching for a marathon.

However don’t fret! There are nice free instruments, from ChatGPT to Canva, that can assist you alongside the way in which. 

And when you’re achieved, you’re achieved. You’ll have an e book you should utilize to drive electronic mail signups or promote instantly. 

Plug it into AWeber as your lead magnet and watch as your publication grows. You’ll by no means must carry one other finger because the e book—and your publication software program—does the remainder of the work.

However if you wish to generate profits off it, there’s only one extra step. Discover ways to promote your e book to reap the advantages of what you’ve simply achieved.